The Details

The 14 members of the Montana Dinosaur Trail have been in some friendly competition this summer. The members organized a Montana Dinosaur Trail Prehistoric Passport sales/stamping incentive program this year offering the facility that improved the most over 2010 the chance to win a fossil skull replica with a retail value of $2,500. The 14-week incentive program began Memorial Day weekend and ran through Sept. 5. It provided weekly improvement rewards of $25 to the facility that increased their sales and stamping the most that week.

After 12 weeks of competition, the H. Earl Clack Museum, in Havre, has been the most improved seven times, followed by the Carter County Museum, in Ekalaka, three times and one each for both Chinook’s Blaine County Museum and the Fort Peck Interpretive Center. Other trail facilities may have sold more passports individually each week, but these facilities improved the most over last year. During this period, the trail facilities have sold 217 passports and stamped another 681.

Last year, 20 people completed their passport by visiting all the facilities along the 1,300-mile-long Montana Dinosaur Trail. This year, so far 22 passports have been completed with more expected before the end of 2011.

The Montana Dinosaur Trail Prehistoric Passport retails for $5 with half that amount remaining in the facility where it is purchased. A passport holder has five years to complete the trail. Once completed, they receive a Montana Dinosaur Trail t-shirt and a Trail Completion Certificate with gold seal.